Mt. Hood Records is an unusual, but viable business model for a record company. Hillary MacQuilliams, an Oregon-registered LLC, founded Hood Records. The business promotes several Portland-based bands. All have a common element: improvisation.

Industry Analysis

A few large corporations are the dominant players in the retail record market. These corporations account for 87% in total CD sales. Indie record labels control 8% of all CD sales. This is a smaller version of large corporations. The remaining 5% comes from a mix of record labels. Many labels adopt a shotgun approach to selling. They sign up many bands and hope that one or two of them will succeed. Record corporations make huge profits when bands are commercially successful. Indie labels can be similar but more selective. They do not always select the most commercially profitable bands.

Products and Services

Mt. Hood Records is an independent record label based in Portland that caters to a select few Portland-based bands. Mt. Hood Records has adopted a business philosophy that will allow it to be more profitable to sign up only a few bands and to promote them equally. It is better to sign up a few bands and hope they are successful than signing up a lot and hope one of the bands is a commercial success enough to help float the rest. This is a good approach for a handful of bands. It gives the bands the intimacy and specialized focus that the label offers. The bands recognizes that fact that this label will be working hard to promote just a few bands, and that they will not be lost in the shuffle.

A Business Model

This record label will need a lot of hard work and little revenue for the first year to be successful. This is difficult for many businesses. Mt. Hood Records has made it a point to set realistic expectations upfront and not have future surprises. Additionally, the investors (friends and family) are aware of these parameters and have given their blessing. This will require a lot of effort, but it is possible with reasonable expectations and the right management to execute the business model.

Management

Mt. Hood Records has been founded and will be run by Hillary MacQuilliams. Hillary is a veteran of the music industry. Immediately after college Hillary went on tour with her own band 180 South. Hillary and her band set up their own record label in order to produce a studio album. This was to support the month-long tour. Hillary realizes that this wasn’t an honest attempt to make a recording label work. It was more of novelty to create a label, and then release their own CD.

After the tour the band broke up and Hillary enrolled into law school. After graduation, it was extremely difficult to find law jobs. After no luck in her job search, Hillary began to consider something in the music industry because of her passion for music. She started researching and created a business model that was long-term sustainable through the development of a local, exclusive label. Mt. Hood Records.

1.1 Objectives

• To become the premier local music label, based on CD sales, within three years.
• Within the first three year, you must sign at least five organizations.
• Within three years, you can achieve profitability

1.2 Mission

Mt. Hood Records is a local record label that promotes local music and increases live appearances. Mt. Hood Records has been established to promote its bands and at the same time make a fair profit.

1.3 Keys To Success

• Promote promising bands
• You should not sign up to too many bands.
• You can have fun while you work.